Brad Ashford: “I thank Ranking Member Takano, Chairman Roe, certainly Chairman Miller, and Mr. Speaker for bringing this important bill…”

“I thank Ranking Member Takano, Chairman Roe, certainly Chairman Miller, and Mr. Speaker for bringing this important bill up for a vote today. H.R. 5099, the CHIP IN for Vets Act, was introduced by myself and others in the House and by my good friend and colleague, Senator Deb Fischer, in the United States Senate. There is an identical bill in the Senate awaiting action as we speak. As has been suggested and mentioned, this bill allows for the Department of Veterans Affairs to enter into donation agreements with community groups in order to complete VA construction projects. This is a new and innovative idea not necessarily brought to this body by myself, but by so many other people, as has been mentioned, who have worked on this bill for literally 2 years. I appreciate my good friend, Congressman Fortenberry from Lincoln, Nebraska, for his comments and his ability to hold me back from time to time as we proceeded down this course. I think when we started out with this process, what I was focused on was the idea that in our own communities it is veterans who can make those tough decisions as to what their needs are. Nobody better than our veterans understands those needs. What this bill will allow us to do is to combine community donors with veterans to actually involve themselves together in the development of these projects. Certainly in Omaha, in my community in Iowa, and Nebraska area, we have had a need for such a renovated facility for many, many years.…”